Who Deserves What?
New York Times best-selling Anteater?
When you think about it, the title of this post really asks two questions. The answers, as near as I can tell, are, respectively, nobody and nothing. But Felicia Sullivan (author of The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here and former everything-in-chief of the venerable & lamented Small Spiral Notebook) isn’t so sure. Over at her blog, she takes on what she calls “the culture of entitlement” within the literary world today. Then, in the comments section, Rachel Fershleiser (of Housing Works, Smith magazine & co-editor of the Six Word Memoir books) raises some questions about the assumptions underlying the arguments of the post. Things get pretty heated pretty quick, between the two of them and a third commenter named Les, who seems more interested in critiquing Rachel’s grammar than listening to what she says. (Felicia, on the other hand, dives in head-first). It’s an interesting back and forth between two smart people (and Les), who actually seem to be talking TO each other at least as often as they’re talking PAST each other, which in internet-thread terms is basically a miracle of loaves and fishes. I am still sorting out my exact thoughts about this debate/discussion, but forget about what I think for a second. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Tags: culture of entitlement, Felicia Sullivan, Rachel Fershleiser
Sullivan makes some interesting points but I also think there are different ways of earning success and the notion that success always has to be a torturous, involved, “back in my day we walked to school barefoot” process is a bit… nostalgic and myopic, perhaps. I absolutely agree that there are interns who don’t want to do grunt work, etc. I deal with it all the time for the magazine I edit, but I also think it’s just young college students being young college students. Entitlement is a privilege of youth.
To my mind, website book deals are simply the current manifestation of an overnight sensation. In ten years, I’m quite certain we’ll all laugh that once upon a time, some people put pictures of high caloric food online and got a book deal out of it. I also don’t believe that the types of book deals which contribute to a culture of entitlement (which is a very real, annoying thing) cancel book deals for other books. It isn’t an either or. Good writing is still being published even if not to the extent many of us would prefer.
Sullivan makes some interesting points but I also think there are different ways of earning success and the notion that success always has to be a torturous, involved, “back in my day we walked to school barefoot” process is a bit… nostalgic and myopic, perhaps. I absolutely agree that there are interns who don’t want to do grunt work, etc. I deal with it all the time for the magazine I edit, but I also think it’s just young college students being young college students. Entitlement is a privilege of youth.
To my mind, website book deals are simply the current manifestation of an overnight sensation. In ten years, I’m quite certain we’ll all laugh that once upon a time, some people put pictures of high caloric food online and got a book deal out of it. I also don’t believe that the types of book deals which contribute to a culture of entitlement (which is a very real, annoying thing) cancel book deals for other books. It isn’t an either or. Good writing is still being published even if not to the extent many of us would prefer.
It seems like much of the fighting over there is over the fact that it isn’t quite clear what argument the blog post is making. Even though Sullivan claims that she isn’t talking about the state of publishing, saying you used to have to work hard but now your book will be bought based on twitter feeds is a commentary on the state of publishing not author entitlement (Unless she would argue that back in the day authors would have turned down a similar book deal or that these people landing silly gimmick book deals are somehow feeling really entitled about it).
Mainly thought, it seems to me that there is no way to compare gimmicky books with literary fiction. They operate in totally different spheres. So is Sullivan saying that literary writers feel more entitled today than before? Or that they use gimmicks to publish their works more than before? Not clear to me.
I do think that Rachel has a bit of a point about hard work being a kind of entitlement too. Ultimately what we want is good work and whether you arrive at that through a burst of creativity or years of revision ultimately shouldn’t matter.
It seems like much of the fighting over there is over the fact that it isn’t quite clear what argument the blog post is making. Even though Sullivan claims that she isn’t talking about the state of publishing, saying you used to have to work hard but now your book will be bought based on twitter feeds is a commentary on the state of publishing not author entitlement (Unless she would argue that back in the day authors would have turned down a similar book deal or that these people landing silly gimmick book deals are somehow feeling really entitled about it).
Mainly thought, it seems to me that there is no way to compare gimmicky books with literary fiction. They operate in totally different spheres. So is Sullivan saying that literary writers feel more entitled today than before? Or that they use gimmicks to publish their works more than before? Not clear to me.
I do think that Rachel has a bit of a point about hard work being a kind of entitlement too. Ultimately what we want is good work and whether you arrive at that through a burst of creativity or years of revision ultimately shouldn’t matter.